"Stay close to me."
Moria's voice rang out amid the chaos, calm and steady. He stepped forward, and the longsword in his hand glimmered once more as he shielded the three survivors behind him.
Li Wen did not move. She merely tilted her head up slightly, her gaze beneath the hood coolly analyzing the Construct Guards' flight paths and attack patterns. They were not charging in blindly, but forming a three-dimensional, interlocking attack network that sealed off every possible avenue of escape.
The first gargoyle had already dived above them. Its savage stone face twisted into something terrifying beneath the dim blue glow, and its magic-sheened claws, bearing enough force to tear through steel, raked viciously down at Moria's head.
Moria neither dodged nor retreated. His longsword swept upward from below, tracing a simple, precise arc.
Clang!
A dull, teeth-grating crash erupted as blade met stone claw, sending brilliant sparks flying. A tremendous force surged through Moria's sword, numbing his arm slightly and cracking the stone floor beneath his feet inch by inch. The gargoyle was knocked upward by the recoil, but its claws, harder than steel, bore only a shallow white mark.
Its physical defense was astonishingly high.
Moria's heart sank as more gargoyles closed in from every direction. Those on the ground charged forward on heavy steps, swinging their claws, while those in the air continually adjusted their angles in search of openings.
Li Wen finally moved.
Light and swift, she slipped through them, the Crow Feather Dagger slicing silently through the air. Her target was not the gargoyles' hardened torsos, but their relatively vulnerable hand joints.
Screech—
The dagger scraped across the stone surface with a piercing rasp, throwing up a trail of sparks, yet leaving behind only a nearly imperceptible scratch. The gargoyle's movements did not